HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
CHAPTER 4

POLITICS OF ORANGE COUNTY

In August, 1816, the county gave Thomas Posey, Governor, 419 votes, and Jonathan Jennings, his opponent, 64. Many of the subsequent results at Gubernatorial elections cannot be given, but below will be found the result at Presidential elections: The campaign of 1840 was the first of note in the county. In May of that year, at the Democratic County Convention, Joel Vandeveer presided, and the following representative Democrats were present: Henry Hollowell, Michael Mavity, Andrew Pruett, Samuel Wible, Eli McDonald, Henry Comingore, John Frazer, J. Hollowell, A. Maris, S. Cox, A. Wilson, W. Craig, T. Copeland, James Danner, W. Guthrie, S. Cornwell, J. H. Shore, Henry Crittenden, I. M. Ellis, P. Cartright, C. McDonald, J. McDonald, J. Lomox, J. H. Lomox, Q. Lomox, Edward Moore, William Wolfington, John Moore, Thomas Nichols, A. Charles, John Brown, John McCally, Isaac Bridgewater, James McCally, William Smith, Jeremiah Jenkins, J. C. Busick, William Busick, Perry Elrod, William Walls, Dr. J. Dillard and T. Bledsoe, Dr. W. A. Bowles, then the leading Democrat of the county, and a man of unusual talent, magnetism and personality, and the Representative of the county, delivered a long address to the convention on the issues of the day, which was published in full in the True American. In August Mr. Bowles was re-elected Representative. The county cast 947 votes for T. A. Howard, for Governor, and 678 for Samuel Bigger. Among the leading Whigs at this time, were: Col. Z. Lindley, Dr. C. White, Giles C. Smith, Thomas V. Thornton, Thomas J. Throop, Thomas Coffin, Samuel Chambers, Ezekiel S. Riley, Ezekiel Blackwell, John T. Throop, John G. Clendenin, John H. Campbell.

In 1844 the Democrats held an enormous barbecue at Orleans, about 5,000 people being present. A large hickory pole was raised. The orators were Down, Smith, Sherritt and Albertson. The Whigs had a large barbecue at Paoli, a week later. They had not fully recovered from the campaign of 1840, when barbecues were held over the county, and hard cider, log-cabins, and "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," were the battle-cries. The old song was yet running in their heads:

"Cold water will do for the Locos,
And a little vinegar stew;
But we’ll drink hard cider and whisky,
And vote for old Tippecanoe."

Late in the forties Dr. W. F. Sherrod, Democrat, became prominent in politics. He was one of the State electors in 1848, and was selected by them to take the returns of Indiana to Washington city. In 1849 he was sent to the Legislature. In 1848 Joseph A. Wright received 1,053 votes, and John A. Matson 758, for Governor. About this time there arose a frail Abolition movement, which, however, continued to grow in strength. In August, 1851, the question of the exclusion or colonization of negroes or mulattoes, was submitted to the county with the following result:

In 1856 politics in the county was in such a chaotic condition that almost the entire Whig vote went to Fillmore and Donelson, only forty-nine votes being polled for Fremont and Dayton. In 1860 the county was even yet more distracted, all the four national tickets receiving respectable support. The Republican vote was especially heavy, being 848, forty-four more than in 1864. In 1865, for the first time in tbe history of the county, almost the entire Republican ticket was elected. In 1868 the Democratic majority was 109, but in 1872 was only 76. The Greenback movement in 1876, and later, has had considerable of a following in the county, the leader, perhaps, being John C. Albert, who, later, was the candidate of that party for Congress. The present Democratic majority is about 150.

THE RESULT AT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

On the 9th of November, 1824, Paoli Township voted as follows for Presidential electors: Jackson and Calhoun, 132; Adams and Sanford, 85; Clay and Jackson, 59. In November, 1828, three of the townships voted as follows for Presidential electors: Paoli-Jackson and Calhoun, 376, Adams and Rush 197; Orleans-Jackson and Calhoun 235, Clay and Rush 88; Greenfield-Jackson and Calhoun 20, Clay and Rush 0. In November, 1832, four townships voted as follows: For Jackson and Van Buren-Paoli 323, Northeast 206, Southeast 71, Greenfield 15. For Clay and Sargeant-Paoli 235, Northeast 119, S·utheast 11, Greenfield 0; total for Jackson and Van Buren 615, for Clay and Sargeant 365; Democratic majority 250.

NOVEMBER, 1836

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRATIC	WHIG
	Van Buren and Johnson	Harrison and Granger
Paoli	305	305
Northeast	169	174
Southeast	43	4
Southwest	17
Greenfield	30
Totals	564	483

NOVEMBER, 1840

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRATIC	WHIG
	Van Buren and Johnson	Harrison and Tyler
Paoli	270	313
Orleans	214	257
Stampers Creek	56	22
Northwest	35	33
Southwest	64	4
Greenfield	52	0
Southeast	125	68
Jackson	63	10
Totals	879	707

NOVEMBER, 1844

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRATIC	WHIG	LIBERTY
	Polk and Dallas	Clay and Frelinghuysen	Birney and Morris
Paoli	289	352	1
Orleans	222	166	0
Northeast	8	42	1
Northwest	52	40	0
Southwest	68	5	0
Southeast	162	67	0
Stampers Creek	88	25	1
Greenfield	65	8	0
Jackson	82	7	1
Totals	1036	707	4

NOVEMBER, 1848

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRATIC	WHIG	FREE SOIL
	Cass and Butler	Taylor and Filimore	Van Buren and Adams
Paoli	134	240	3
Northeast	93	108	3
Orleans	119	158	0
Northwest	68	68	0
French Lick	160	44	0
Jackson	55	13	0
Greenfield	84	20	0
Southeast	137	67	0
Stampers Creek	111	42	0
Totals	961	760	6

NOVEMBER, 1852

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRATIC	WHIG
	Pierce and King	Scott and Graham
Paoli	130	217
Orleans	105	181
Northeast	75	93
Stampers Creek	115	33
Southeast	133	77
Greenfield	98	25
Jackson	79	14
FrenCh Lick	145	23
Northwest	64	38
Orangeville	78	46
Totals	1022	747

NOVEMBER, 1856

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRATIC	REPUBLICAN	AMERICAN
	Buchanan and Breckinridge	Fremont and Dayton	Fillmore and Donelson
Paoli	135	5	200
Northeast	92	6	79
Orleans	163	26	101
Orangeville	73	0	43
Northwest	78	3	38
French Lick	155	6	20
Jackson	112	0	12
Greenfield	131	0	7
Southeast	160	3	63
Stampers Creek	108	0	32
Totals	1207	49	595

NOVEMBER, 1860

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRAT	REPUBLICAN	INDEPENDENT DEMOCRAT	UNION
	Breckinridge and Lane	Lincoln and Hamlin	Douglas and Johnson	Bell and Everett
Paoli	32	242	141	25
Northeast	11	89	78	9
Orleans	56	181	94	32
Orangeville	0	86	71	1
Northwest	15	45	73	3
French Lick	32	49	121	2
Jackson	0	21	122	1
Greenfield	9	20	157	2
Southeast	3	89	146	4
Stampers Creek	28	26	111	6
Totals	186	848	1114	83

NOVEMBER, 1864

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRATIC	REPUBLICAN
	McClellan and Pendleton	Lincoln and Johnson
Paoli	137	232
Northeast	74	78
Orleans	101	194
Orangeville	71	55
Northwest	81	31
French Lick	121	67
Jackson	87	22
Greenfield	154	11
Southeast	110	88
Stampers Creek	84	26
Totals	1020	804

NOVEMBER, 1868

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRATIC	REPUBLICAN
	Seymour and Blair	Grant and Colfax
Paoli	196	295
Northeast	69	126
Orleans	131	262
Orangeville	71	112
Northwest	102	62
French Lick	179	112
Jackson	113	83
Greenfield	218	27
Southeast	179	133
Stampers Creek	112	47
Totals	1370	1261

NOVEMBER, 1872

TOWNSHIPS	LIBERAL REPUBLICAN	REPUBLICAN	DEMOCRATIC
	Greeley and Brown	Grant and Wilson	O’Conor and Julian
Paoli	153	284	7
Northeast	71	110	0
Orleans	128	230	6
Orangeville	60	123	0
Northwest	111	69	0
French Lick	169	97	2
Jackson	112	93	0
Greenfield	165	21	0
Southeast	153	109	1
Stampers Creek	129	39	0
Totals	1251	1175	16

NOVEMBER 1876

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRATIC	REPUBLICAN	INDEPENDENT
	Tilden and Hendricks	Hayes and Wheeler	Cooper and Cary
Paoli	231	296	7
Northeast	78	122	0
Orleans	149	285	1
Orangeville	93	98	1
Northwest	136	72	0
French Lick	204	113	3
Jackson	137	103	2
Greenfield	237	20	0
Southeast	187	118	0
Stampers Creek	151	42	1
Totals	1603	1269	15

NOVEMBER, 1880

TOWNSHIPS	DEMOCRATIC	REPUBLICAN	INDEPENDENT
	Hancock and English	Garfield and Arthur	Weaver and Chambers
Paoli	189	337	23
Northeast	78	117	5
Orleans	151	245	16
Orangeville	81	108	2
Northwest	132	74	4
French Lick	196	130	7
Jackson	116	150	8
Greenfield	233	50	20
Southeast	190	140	10
Stampers Creek	155	50	2
Totals	1521	1421	97

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